1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of chewing gum products and pertains more particularly to an extrudable chewing gum packaged in a deformable container similar to a toothpaste, caulk gun type package or the like.
2. The Prior Art
As is well known, chewing gum is conventionally supplied in a number of forms. By way of example, the gum may be supplied in individually wrapped slabs, in sugar encapsulated portions, such as ball gum or pellets, or strips, wafers or ropes.
Attempts have been made by Topps Chewing Gum, Incorporated, assignee of the present application, to devise a chewing gum product packaged in plastic or like deformable tubular containers whereby increments of the chewing gum may be extruded by compressing the tube, with the remainder of the gum being retained in sanitary condition by application of the tube cap.
Initial attempts to provide a suitable gum formulation were unsuccessful. No known gum formulation possessed sufficiently low viscosity to permit extrusion at ambient temperatures by pressure exerted on a tube. Attempts to render gum formulations extrudable by the addition of high water content resulted in a composition which, while initially extrudable, was unsatisfactory since it exhibited syneresis even after short storage periods.
Additionally, even the water enhanced conventional gum formulations, immediately after packaging and not yet exhibiting syneresis, were so cohesive that after extrusion of a short segment corresponding to a desired portion, it was found virtually impossible to remove the extruded component at the tube nozzle without drawing from the tube strings or filaments of gum from the components remaining in the tube.
To summarize, the attempts by the inventor hereof to provide a gum formulation suitable for dispensing from a deformable container, such as a tube, has heretofore presented apparently insurmountable technical difficulties.
Various aspects of gum formulations of some pertinence may be found in one or more of the below noted U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 1771,506 Mustin 2256,190 Bowman 3857,963 Graff et al 4065,578 Reggio et al 4156,740 Glass et al 4161,544 Kaul ______________________________________
none of which, however, remotely teaches or suggests a formulation or fabricating procedure which enables the production of a chewing gum composition suitable for dispensing by extrusion.